2010 Bentley Continental Supersports

There's a reason the seats feel like they came from Apollo 11.

Writ large on its face with extra grilles and hood slots is what the most chest-thumping Bentley Continental model yet is all about: It’s about roasting weenies, especially ones in Porsches.

The 621-hp Continental Supersports weighs 5011 pounds, costs nearly $275,000, and hits 60 mph in a face-peeling 3.6 seconds, almost a half-second quicker than the next-fleetest Continental, the 600-hp GT Speed. It sounds wonderfully flatulent and looks slightly scary. At any moment you expect it to unfold into a giant robot and start bench-pressing 747s.

The Supersports name sounds quintes­sentially British, what we expect from the chuffed ironmongers at Bentley. From bonnet to boot it’s heavy but down about 170 pounds from the GT Speed. The front seats are deep, stiff, manually adjusted carbon-fiber cocoons lined with leather and diamond-quilted Alcantara. They wear well for a few hours, before back fatigue begins to set in.

The rear seats are gone. A glossy carbon-fiber pole stretches across the empty chasm. It could serve as a shoulder-harness mount but is probably there for liability, so gits don’t sit where there are no seatbelts.

Black, fine-spoke 20-inch wheels harboring huge carbon-ceramic discs add bigness to the complexion of the Supersports. A mere 157 feet separates 70 mph from zero—yet another astounding number—but a relentless, maddening squeak made the Bentley sound like a city bus around town.

Continentals have always been effective handlers despite their bulk. The Supersports corners as if its entire underbelly is just one giant tire. This Bentley won’t break loose, not for Queen nor country, and owners will be flossing Bimmers and Boxsters out of the grilles on a regular basis.

Just when you think Continentals have reached their limit, the boys turn up the secret power screw. What’s next, the Continental Hyper Crumpet? The imagination reels.